Oct

01

2012

THE COLLABORATION WITH A400M FAL HAS
BEEN AN ASSET FOR US IN OUR COMMITMENT TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF SEVILLE
AIRPORT FACILITIES”

The airport of Seville is one of
the infrastructures historically linked to the Andalusian aerospace industry,
with which it keeps a close relationship nowadays, especially with its main OEM
company, Airbus Military. During the interview with the director of the
airport, Eugenio Pérez Luengo, he highlights the role of the aeronautics in
Andalusia, as well as the process of transformation of this kind of facilities
in the last years. “We have passed from just channelling the air traffic to
become business centres involved in the development of local economies”,
remarks.

The Airport of Seville is one of the
facilities involved in the Andalusian aerospace indus­try, but what is its role
within the aerospace development? How the Airport of Seville is encouraging
this growth un­dertaken in the last few years within our region?

The
Airport of Seville plays a significant role as a supporting infrastructure for
the aerospace industry. We keep a close collabo­ration with OEMs, putting at
their disposal not only our facilities and services, but also the execution of
works to improve and ease their activity.

Like
that, the airport has been assisting flight tests of impor­tant types like the
A400M or the A380; we have undertaken a new running road to speed up Airbus
Military aircrafts towards our runway; and we have been very committed to
boosting the instal­lation of aerospace suppliers and service enterprises on
the site of the airport, which entails benefits in terms of synergies and
rapidity of the productive processes or maintenance.

In
relation to that last fact, last year the Airport of Seville signed an
agreement of collaboration with IDEA –agency under the Regional Ministry of
Economy, Innovation Science and Employ­ment- to help the installation of high
added value, innovative and business projects on the site of the airport. These
sites could be considered to be part of the Aero­space and Technological Park
of Andalusia Aerópolis.

Enterprises
willing to get in­stalled on this site may be provid­ed with supporting
services and financial backing by IDEA under the programme to foster innova­tive
enterprises, as well as the national and regional incentives for companies
installed at techno­logical parks.

One of the advertising initia­tives recently started is the
organization of an exposition about the Andalusian aero­space history. How
passen­gers are welcoming this ex­hibition? Are there any other initiatives to
strengthen the re­lationship between the airport and the Andalusian aerospace
enterprises and entities?

To tell you the truth, it is
being very favourably received. There are a number of passengers who stop by
before the boarding area and in the corridor towards the luggage claim to
quickly and il­lustratively look over the exhibi­tion and the one hundred years
of aerospace industry and avia­tion in Andalusia. This has been a very smart
Hélice Cluster’s initia­tive, because there is still a lack of knowledge about
the importance of Andalusia in the origin, devel­opment and international expan­sion
of the aerospace industry.

On the other hand, the airport
is a fantastic showcase for this exhibition, notably if you take into
consideration the nearly five mil­lion annual passengers that pass by our
premises with international and national arrivals and depar­tures.

From the airport, we are
willing to collaborate with all this kind of initiatives but also with
activities related to the productive proc­esses as I commented before.

Airbus Military is one of the aerospace companies using San Pablo
airport facilities on a regular basis. How is the collaboration with such a
company? What did the FAL setup involve for the airport?

The
understanding between the two parts has been always very good. As per the A400M
FAL of Airbus being in Seville has been an asset for us since we are very much
committed to im­prove the quality of our services and facilities and has enabled
us to gain valuable knowledge and experience. In fact, we have dem­onstrated
ourselves that we are highly capable of satisfying very demanding requirements
which go further our traditional activity.

The airport has recently opened a new parking for customers. Has this
been car­ried out to satisfy the current demand or are you expect­ing an
increment of travellers within the next few years?

When managing airports, capa­bility
of prevision, going ahead of future mid-and-long-term necessi­ties, is one of
the key premises to avoid overbooking situations. The new five-floor parking
has been started thinking of the future traf­fic growth at the Airport of
Seville. Thanks to this, we have today up­wards of 3,700 parking places for our
users, which should be added by 1,200 more for rental cars and twentyish for
buses.

Are you planning short-and-mid-term any improvement or creation of new
facilities?

In the last few years we have
carried out works to satisfy the current demand and that future demand from now
to 2025, so we haven’t planned big projects or investments. We will keep improv­ing
and diversifying our service portfolio and getting it segmented to serve all
the different profiles of our customers and users, provid­ing a variety of
products at any sales point and encouraging the local economy through the devel­opment
of industrial initiatives…

What scope of flights does the airport have nowadays? Which are the
goals for the coming years? Do you think that setting new airlines must be
fostered or rather widen­ing services of those that are already operating in
Seville?

Our goal is having as many
routes and air companies as pos­sible, but this business, just like any other,
is marked by the law of supply and demand. If there is enough demand, there
will come more air companies, and those that already are with us, will in­clude
new destinations to their programs.

In spite of that, the airport
has been participating for the last two years in Impulso Destino Se­villa
(IDS), an initiative where there also participate the Town Council of Seville,
the Provincial Council and the Chamber of Commerce, and whose purpose is being
in permanent contact with airlines in order to show them our opportu­nities and
to draw their attention to operate in the city.

Currently, there have been
detected potential markets like Germany, Switzerland and Nordic countries,
without forgetting the connections with main Europe­ans hubs (London, Paris,
Frank­fort, Amsterdam), which, on their turn, allow us to be connected with
other countries inside and outside Europe.

With regard to the airport as
infrastructure, our mission is fa­cilitating the air companies the development
of their operating methods and having enough services and capabilities as to
house all of them. Being ready to answer the necessities of any airline
operating with us, or that wants to operate in our facilities. This summer, for
instance, a doz­en of companies have been oper­ating with flights to forty
Spanish and foreign cities. Three of these companies have been included to the
programs as novelty: Iberia Express, Volotea and Air France.

At the end of October, the pro­gram
will change to open the win­ter season, that will be kept until the last
weekend of March and that will be fitted according to the demand of those
months.

Our goal
is having as many routes and air companies as possible, but this business is
marked by the law of supply and demand"

What is the balance of pas­sengers and activity in the air­port of Seville during the first 10 months of 2012? What is expected for 2013?

2011
was the best year for the history of the airport, with almost 5 million passengers.
The current economic situation has inter­rupted the growing trend reached
during that year, and, from the beginning of 2012, the number of passengers has
slightly de­creased more than 10%. Spain is suffering more than other coun­tries
with the crisis and it can be noticed in the domestic flights.

Regarding the previsions for
the next year, it is quite difficult to make a precise estimation in advance
and in a changing background, but we believe that there will be an increase
but, ob­viously, moderate.

Do you consider the airport sector as an area with future for the
aeronautical profes­sionals looking for a first job? Which are the most de­manded
areas?

From a global point of view,
the airport sector still has a great potentiality of develop­ment, due to the
important demand of air traffic in emerg­ing countries. The Aerospace
Engineering specializing in Air­ports offers a great potential of development,
particularly with regard to construction of new airports, enlargement of others
already existing, consultancy or management externalization, as nowadays is
happening in many countries.

Also, there is a great oppor­tunity
for those who have been recently graduated, since a wide range of skills is
demanded, mainly, in the areas of Airport Facilities Maintenance, and As­sistance
to Navigation, Airport Operations, Operational Secu­rity and Personal Security.

From a global point of view, the airport sector
still has a great potentiality of development, due to the important demand of
air traffic in emerging countries"

Which are the main chal­lenges for the airport sector and air transport in Spain and Andalusia regarding the coming years?

From an airport point of view,
which is the segment where I work, I would like to say that we are witnesses of
a real transfor­mation. We have passed from being just infrastructures chan­nelling
the air traffic, to become real business centres, more and more involved in the
develop­ment of local economies.

Only in the Airport of Seville,
there are 2,400 people working and more that a hundred com­panies; in the last
year, all the commercial and catering sup­ply has been transformed; we have an
agreement with IDEA, as I mentioned before; we have more and more segmented and
customized services according to the different demanding pro­files.

Another main challenge is the
sustainability. In Aena Aeropuer­tos, we are really committed not only to the
respectful environ­mental management, but also to the implantation of measures
helping the control of practices in companies working at our premises.

What do you think about the excessive supply of airports that has been
created in Spain? Is it necessary a re­view of the airport system?

That is just the project where
the Ministry for Public Works is immersed in, through an Airport Efficiency
Plan. The plan is for the smallest facilities in the net­work and it wants to
adequate the services supply to the real demand.

On the other hand, for the to­tal
group of Aena Aeropuertos, there is a strong commitment with regard to costs
control and diversification of income sources, through a wider scope of
international business and a committed development of our commercial area
reinforcing, on its turn, the search for new routes through the department of
airport marketing.

The final goals of these initia­tives
are efficiency and profitabil­ity.

Since 2004 promoting the development of the Andalusian Aerospace Cluster supporting all the cluster's stakeholders, as well as to providing subcontractors with the technical resources to ensure a better integration with contractor companies.